Boycott, Divest, Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) is utterly aghast that the Australian government under Prime Minister Scott Morrison has seen it fit to play to the Zionist tune and recognise Jerusalem, albeit only the western half, as the capital of Israel. Doing so and at the same time still declaring that it believes in the two-state solution only betrays the hypocrisy of the Morrison administration over the whole issue. As long as they are rewarded for maintaining their apartheid state and oppressive policies towards Palestinians, the Zionists will not be moved to seek a genuine and just peace with Palestinians whether it is within a two-state or one-state or ten-state framework.

BDS Malaysia also notes that in spite of prior intimations and indications from the Malaysian government that a decision on Jerusalem should be avoided out of respect for the UN resolutions regarding its final status and for a just and permanent peace between Israel and Palestine to be achieved, the Morrison administration has chosen to ignore all of them.

That being the case, BDS Malaysia calls on the Malaysian government to respond firmly in ways which entail more than mere words of condemnation:

The Malaysian foreign ministry should summon the Australian High Commissioner for Malaysia’s displeasure to be firmly conveyed to the Morrison administration.

KL should downgrade its current diplomatic relations with Canberra.

KL should review all current trading links and exchanges with Australia.

BDS Malaysia calls on all Malaysians

To participate in the peaceful demonstration planned for the afternoon of Friday, 21st December in front of the KL Australian High Commission in order to publicly express our dismay and opposition to the Morrison administration’s decision regarding the status of Jerusalem.

To avoid buying all Australian meat, dairy, agricultural and other products. Do not ask if that will have any discernible impact on the situation. Just do it. The boycott will cease once the Australian government reverses its position on Jerusalem.

We do all the above in solidarity with all Palestinians for whom the right to live in peace and dignity in their own state has been denied these past 70 years. The perpetuation of the gross injustice against Palestinians is indeed the worst moral crisis of our modern times.

In taking all the measures above, we bear no enmity whatsoever towards the people of Australia.

The Morrison administration has chosen to sell its soul and sacrifice the national interests of Australia on the altar of Trumpism.

It has chosen the same path of lawlessness and disrespect for international resolutions and close neighbours that has been taken by the pariah Zionist apartheid state.

By unashamedly and unquestioningly supporting an ongoing settler-colonist racist project called Israel which unrelentingly victimises the indigenous Palestinian population, the Morrison administration has rendered hollow and hypocritical all the words of sorrow and contrition expressed by the Australian government over the past dispossession and inhumanity inflicted on Australia’s own indigenous population.

]]>hq1512@gmail.com (Itrisyia Dayini)Press ReleasesTue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000BDS Malaysia condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest aggression by the Zionist apartheid state against the people of Gazahttp://bdsmalaysia.com/h/index.php/press-releases/item/159-bds-malaysia-condemns-in-the-strongest-possible-terms-the-latest-aggression-by-the-zionist-apartheid-state-against-the-people-of-gaza
http://bdsmalaysia.com/h/index.php/press-releases/item/159-bds-malaysia-condemns-in-the-strongest-possible-terms-the-latest-aggression-by-the-zionist-apartheid-state-against-the-people-of-gaza

MEDIA STATEMENT FROM BDS MALAYSIA

13 November 2018

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) condemns in the strongest possible terms the latest aggression by the Zionist apartheid state against the people of Gaza. Up to now, almost ten civilian buildings of no military significance, including a kindergarten have been deliberately targeted by Israeli warplanes with absolutely no concern for non-combatant casualties.

The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 expressively prohibits the harming of civilians in a war zone and the United Nations in 1993 have officially adopted the position that all provisions of the Geneva Convention are binding on all nations of the world including non-signatory countries.

BDS Malaysia therefore calls on the UN and the international community to immediately take all necessary measures to force the Zionist apartheid state to end its criminal bombing of civilians in Gaza and bring the Israeli leaders behind this barbaric onslaught to account before the International Criminal Court. The violation by Israel of the Geneva Convention is blatant and clear in this case. Inaction by the international community in the face of overwhelming evidence will only invite further outrages from the apartheid state.

The leaders of the major countries of western Europe gathered in France on Sunday, 11th November to commemorate the centenary since the end of the First World War. Sentiments were expressed by them about the horrors of war for both soldiers and civilians. The horrors of war now happening in Gaza have their roots in the First World War. The governments of those western European nations must walk the talk, express their utter revulsion to what Israel is doing now to the Palestinian people of Gaza and do everything within their means to get the apartheid state to stop its criminal actions. Anything less will just betray their hypocrisy in the case of blatant injustices done to the Palestinians by the Zionist regime.

We, the undersigned residents of Europe and beyond, call on members of the European Broadcasting Union -- our public broadcasters -- to withdraw from the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Israel, to avoid being complicit in Israel's ongoing violations of Palestinian human rights.

We urge songwriters and performers to boycott the 2019 contest hosted by Israel just as they once boycotted the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Background

Just days after Israel's Eurovision win, Israeli forces massacred 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children, as they demonstrated for freedom and refugee rights. Since the Great Return March protests began on March 30th 2018, at least 205 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza Strip. More than 18,000 others have been injured, including thousands shot with live fire.

Israeli lawmakers recently formalised apartheid in Israel's basic laws, with the “Jewish nation state law” giving the system of racial discrimination against Palestinians a constitutional mandate. Meanwhile, Israel's apartheid regime works to present Israel's “prettier face” by art-washing its decades-old oppression and dispossession of Palestinians.

Pressure is mounting on Puma to end its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA). The IFA includes clubs in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. More than 200 Palestinian sports clubs have sent a letter urging Puma to end the sponsorship deal.

Just last week, more than 1000 tweets urged Puma to make ending its support for illegal Israeli land grabs a priority for its newly launched #Reform campaign for social justice.

We know Puma executives are listening. Let’s step up the pressure and convince Puma to take a leap for Palestinian rights.

Today, together with Palestinian athletes, we are launching a boycott of Puma until it ends its complicity in sports-washing Israel’s war crimes and human rights violations.

Puma is sponsoring the Israel Football Association (IFA), which welcomes football clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements to participate in its leagues and competitions. The Israeli military occupation expels Palestinian families, including children, from their homes to give way for these settlements. Israeli settlements are considered as war crimes under international law.

Last July it was announced that Adidas was no longer sponsoring the IFA following an international campaign and the delivery of over 16,000 signatures to Adidas headquarters.

We can do this again.

Join the #BoycottPuma social media actions and spread the boycott call!

At a time when the world, Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim, are rallying to the Palestinian cause, it is utterly shameful and bitterly disappointing to see Oman agreeing to receive the visit of the Israeli prime minister.

And at a time when the Zionist apartheid state continues unabated its criminal policy of ‘shoot-to-kill’ against unarmed Palestinian civilians of the Great Return March, a decision by any country, especially if it is both Arab and Muslim, to host a visit by the odious Netanyahu is totally reprehensible, disgusting and deserving of condemnation.

Boycott, Divest, Sanctions Malaysia (BDS Malaysia) unreservedly condemns the decision by the Sultanate of Oman to allow Netanyahu to visit the country.

Israel is using the spectre of Iran to advance its own interests. It will waste no time to use any normalisation of relations with Oman and the Gulf countries as evidence that its apartheid and oppressive policies towards Palestinians are accepted without protest by its Arab neighbours.

If it is really fear of Iran that is prompting Oman and the other Gulf states to consider Israel favourably, the government of those countries would do well to reflect on history. The Nakba of 1948, the Suez War of 1956, the June 1967 war, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon are episodes in a series of naked and brutal aggression perpetrated by Israel, not Iran, against its Arab neighbours. That series is not likely to end if the Gulf states decided to embrace the Zionist apartheid state.

If it is regime security and the fear that Iran will foment internal unrest in the Gulf countries that is pushing those countries towards Israel, their unelected rulers would do well to reflect on the sentiments and feelings of their own population were they to normalise relations with Israel. It will be a decision that may quite possibly foment unrest among their own peoples -- without any need for outside interference.

BDS Malaysia therefore strongly urges Oman and other Gulf states to continue not having any diplomatic or any other kind of ties with the Zionist apartheid state and maintain all efforts to isolate it internationally.

If the report is true, it is but an indication that trading relations between Malaysia and the Zionist apartheid state exist despite the official stand of the Malaysian government that it will not countenance any diplomatic, cultural, economic or any other form of ties whatsoever with Israel.

The public has to understand that as long as the Zionist apartheid state is treated with respectability, normality and a ‘business-as-usual’ attitude, it will consider that an endorsement of its oppressive policies towards the Palestinian people, making a just peace for all parties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict harder to achieve. Just as the apartheid regime of South Africa was peacefully dismantled through a boycott and sanctions campaign, the same objective can be achieved using the same means against Israel. The Zionist apartheid state must continue to be the target of campaigns to isolate it.

In this respect, BDS Malaysia is disappointed that trade had taken place between Malaysia and Israel the past several years. However, we note that that had taken place when Malaysia was under a political party which since May 2018 is no longer in government.

We heartily welcome the strong pro-Palestinian stance of the new Malaysian government and encourage it to take meaningful steps to clamp down on illicit trade with the Zionist apartheid state. We therefore urge the government to:

a) investigate the allegations regarding the purchase of the Israeli spyware, establish its veracity or otherwise and if it was true, establish who in the previous government was responsible.

b) devise and announce in Parliament measures to detect and curb illicit trade with Israel.

The people and government of Malaysia should not underestimate their ability to help in the Palestinian cause. Every little bit matters. Boycotting Israeli products and forsaking trade with the Zionist apartheid state will hurt them and help to advance the struggle for justice in Palestine.